The Police And Manpower

September 10, 1985|By James Evans.

CHICAGO — When is Mayor Harold Washington going to stop downplaying the sad state of affairs the Chicago Police Department is in?

Regardless of what people think Ed Vrdolyak`s political intentions are, he has the right idea. This city cannot tolerate its policemen using drugs and abusing alcohol. They are the people paid to arrest drug dealers and users, people paid to make split-second life and death decisions.

Moreover, although the mayor will not admit it, the department is dangerously understaffed. Never before has there been such a lack of manpower. There are at least 30 men lost per month due to retirement and/or death. The mayor will have you believe we are down only a few hundred men, when in reality it is nearly a couple of thousand. Have you ever seen so many one-man patrol cars?

What I find ironic is that with the stink about drug and alcohol abuse, the shortage of men, and Supt. Fred Rice complaining he can`t find qualified men to hire, why did he throw out the list of qualified applicants who passed the 1981 exam--men who are just waiting to be called?